Hey there,

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This one is about the green-eyed monster.

 

The developmental years of my existence, i.e. my education, was in a defense school. And while there was an almost lack of objection, I do however recall the intensity of competition, what with it being the equivalent of a bootcamp. Be it sports, scholastics or extracurriculars, everybody needed to bring their A game and that was everyone’s mindset.

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I was fairly competent in all offices, not an extraordinaire in any. The company I had, the so-called Three Musketeers, they were in a cutthroat world as well. They'd often talk about the objective of our existence and what we all were meant to do… bootcamp had magically turned philosophical.

Times when you felt that the storm was drawing to a close, board tests used to magically be announced to reignite the fire amongst students. Everyone was into outbidding each other in terms of marks, grades, ranks. I honestly couldn’t care less. One day, amidst all the assessments, my bosom buddy, Rahul, told me about his lofted goals and his aspiration to study abroad. ‘Even you?’ I thought but that wasn’t all.

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One thing led to another and after the examinations, came the comparisons. While I didn't keep an eye on this particular feeling from the get-go, slowly and creepily, the comparisons began to get to me. Looking at Rahul’s grades… envy had set in and I realized that it was time to fundamentally alter the manner in which I did things.

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I used the green-eyed monster to my benefit and zeroed in on things that would make a difference for me in the future. The point was never to beat Rahul… but to be in a position I could be pleased with myself. The D-day arrived and I got my results the next term only to have scored considerably well to the last time I gave my exams. No one could really fathom that even I could score if I wanted to.

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Every single teacher had asked me what had changed and I believe I didn’t have answer back then but I do have one now. I just showed them I could compete if I wanted too.

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